HPD takes new look at 2001 slaying of father of 3

Updated 7:42 pm, Saturday, November 17, 2012

Jerry Heidelberg was fatally shot on Nov. 15, 2001, at his west Houston apartment. Police are still searching for the killers.

Jerry Heidelberg was fatally shot on Nov. 15, 2001, at his west Houston apartment. Police are still searching for the killers.

Photo: Courtesy Photo

HPD takes new look at 2001 slaying of father of 3

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Arnettia Heidelberg can still see her 3-year-old son's face - the small, frightened eyes, the chubby, tear-stained cheeks - on the day his father was killed.

She clutched him tightly in her arms and held his head against her chest. Unclear at the time about what he knew, she asked why he'd been crying.

"I heard pow," he told her. "And I saw daddy fall."

It's been 11 years since the boy's father, 41-year-old Jerry Heidelberg, was shot and killed during an apparent robbery in his west Houston apartment. Arnettia was at work, but their toddler son was home at the time. The case has never been solved.

His family has worked hard to move forward from that day. But Arnettia can't avoid the reality that her three children are growing up without a father, a man she describes as a God-fearing person who always took care of his family.

So when detectives with the Houston Police Department called earlier this year and told her they were looking into the case again, she knew that dredging through the bitter memories would be worth the pain if it could help find her husband's killers.

"I hadn't given up hope," she said, her voice cracking.

Police estimated Jerry Heidelberg was fatally shot in the head sometime between 12:45 and 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2001, at his apartment in the 1200 block of Wilcrest, said HPD Homicide Division investigator Mark Kral, who's looking into the case.

Jerry's 7-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter found him lying face-down in a bedroom when they came home from school that day.

They found their younger brother in his sister's bedroom. The toddler later told his mother and police that someone he didn't know moved him there.

'Shattered to our core'

It wasn't until the next day, when Arnettia explained to them what had happened, that her children realized their father wasn't just hurt, but dead. She remembers her older son vomiting after hearing the news.

"We were all just shattered to our core that this happened," she said. "Especially in our own home."

Police determined that nothing had been stolen from the apartment but three pieces of music recording equipment, Kral said.

A preacher and musician, Heidelberg enjoyed creating and recording gospel and Christian music.

Arnettia said the couple's dream was to own their own recording studio. So every time they had enough money saved, they would purchase a new piece of equipment to put in their future business. But in the meantime, she said, it was kept in their apartment.

Arnettia and police believe theft of the equipment was the motive.

"It was high-dollar equipment," Kral said.

Investigators found no signs of a struggle.

"I think he never even saw it coming," the detective said.

New evidence suggests two men committed the crime, he said.

Appeal to conscience

No witnesses were identified except one person in the apartment complex who thought he heard a gunshot.

Arnettia Heidelberg clings to the same hope. Recalling that day with police has been tough for her children, especially her youngest son, now 14.

For her, it's been painful to go through graduations and birthdays without her husband by her side, she said. It's still hard to think about who might walk their daughter down the aisle when she gets married.

"These are the kinds of things that really hurt," she said. "My heart really hurts for my children."

Her belief in God has kept her going.

"The only thing that carried me then," Arnettia said, "and what carries me now is Jesus Christ."

Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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